1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a washing machine, and more particularly to a washing machine having an air bubble generator which comprises a telescopic pipe installed on an inner surface of a door to supply air through the telescopic pipe.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, washing machines are classified into a vortex-type washer and a drum-type washer by means of their washing manner. In a vortex-type washer, laundry articles are subject to a washing action as a pulsator therein rotates to generate a vortex flow within a washer tub. Such a vortex-type washer encompasses, in a broad sense, a stirrer-type washer wherein laundry articles are made to undergo a vigorous friction movement in washing water by means of a bladed stirrer. A drum-type washer has a horizontal rotary drum partially submerged in the washing water. With this type of washer, the laundry articles contained in the rotary drum are rubbed with each other as the drum rotates around its horizontal axis.
These prior art washers have proven to be poor in their overall cleaning efficiency, mainly because they are not able to dissolve the detergent efficiently and to apply a sufficient intensity of physical force to the laundry articles. Although it may be possible for a vortex-type washer to enhance the cleaning efficiency by further increasing the rotational speed of the pulsator or stirrer and thereby creating a more intensive vortex in the washer tub, this would give rise to another disadvantage that the laundry articles tend to suffer a severe damage as the washing operation continues. In order to remove the problems encountered in these washers, there have been proposed a variety of "bubble washers" using air bubbles.
In FIG. 1, an overall structure of a prior art bubble washer is shown. The prior art bubble washer comprises a stationary washer tub 10 capable of containing a level of washing fluid, a rotatable washer tub 14 having a plurality of fluid communication holes 12 formed at its side wall and installed coaxially with stationary washer tub 10, a pulsator 16 rotatably mounted on the bottom of rotatable washer tub 14 for creating a vortex flow therein, a driving part 22 having a motor 18 and a clutch assembly 20 for driving rotatable washer tub 14 and pulsator 16, and a bubble generator 26 installed at the bottom of stationary washer tub 10 for supplying air bubbles into rotatable washer tub 14 through bubble passages 24 formed at the bottom of stationary washer tub 14.
Bubble generator 26 is connected through an air conduit 27 with an air pump 30 adjacent to a controller 28. When air pump 30 operates in response to an operational signal from controller 28, a volume of air is supplied to bubble generator 26 through air conduit 27 to generate air bubbles.
The air bubbles generated from bubble generator 26 are supplied under pulsator 16 through bubble passages 24. Then, the air bubbles are supplied to rotatable washer tub 14 through a plurality of holes and grooves radially provided for pulsator 16.
Because the bubble generator is mounted on the bottom surface of the stationary washer tub in a conventional bubble washer, a large portion of generated air bubbles come in contact with laundry articles located only at the lower part of the stationary washer tub. In other words, the air bubbles are not provided for the entire laundry articles in uniform state, which may result in uneven laundering according to the amount and kind of laundry articles. Therefore, the development of a bubble washer in which air bubbles are uniformly distributed to the laundry articles has been required.